WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield man who “maxed out” a four-year jail sentence earlier this year has now been ordered to serve another 18 months to 6 years for beating up an ex-girlfriend and for his role in a large theft of tools from a contractor’s barn in Chester.

Asked point blank by Judge Karen Carroll if perhaps he’d gotten involved with “any substances” that might have led to his downfall this summer, Jason Morin, 28, replied, “No, just pot and some crack.”

Morin quickly clarified for the judge that he’d used crack “like once the whole time I was out.”

“I was out like eight months and I only used once,” Morin explained, adding, “It was a lot better than my past record.”

When Carroll suggested he might be eligible for drug treatment inside the jail during his upcoming stint, Morin noted, ‘‘I’ve already done the drug program… inside and on the street.”

“Well,” the judge replied, “I think you ought to look deep and see if this is how you want to live your life because you are going down a pretty steep slope at this point.”

Morin’s latest sentence came as part of a plea agreement struck late last week. The state amended a felony burglary count lodged against Morin down to possession of stolen property. Morin also pleaded guilty to aggravated second-degree domestic assault for an incident involving his ex-girlfriend, with whom he has a child. That incident happened when he stopped to visit someone else on his way home from work and discovered she was present at their apartment, Morin told the court.

Morin’s previous jail sentence was imposed in 2008 after he was convicted of three counts of violating probation, violating an abuse prevention order, and of stealing his then-girlfriend’s mother’s car and selling it for fifty dollars in order to buy crack.